I just purchased a new laptop. When I went to type in Japanese for yesterday’s blog entry I realized that I’d have to set up that option since this is a new computer. It has been a long while since I have had to make this change to a computer, and it took me a while to get it right.

To save you some time, if you want to write in Japanese on your computer if you are using the English version of Vista I offer the following quick, step-by-step instructions.

Click on the “Start” circle in the lower left corner of your screen.
Select the “Control Panel.”
Select “Change keyboard or other input methods.”
You should see the following screen. If you don’t, click on the “Keyboards and Languages” tab.

Click on “Change keyboards…” button.
Click “Add” button.
Click the + sign next to Japanese.
Check the “Microsoft IME” box.
Click OK, Apply, and then OK again.

You should be all set.

If you click on the “EN” on your toolbar you can now change it to “JP” when you want to type in Japanese. You will also want to change the input mode when you want to type in hiragana or katakana. Pushing the spacebar after typing a word in romaji on your regular keyboard while in hiragana mode will allow you to choose the kanji that go along with the word you just wrote.

Note that for the particle wa you have to type ha and for the particle o you have to type wo.

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Posted on January 9th, 2009 under Japan • RSS 2.0 feed • Leave a response, or trackback